Ready meals—fully or partially cooked meals requiring minimal preparation—have become staples in urban lifestyles. These range from frozen and chilled dishes to shelf-stable pouches and cans, offering convenience, variety, and increasing nutritional value. Driven by busy schedules, evolving dietary preferences, and innovations in packaging and supply chains, the global ready meals market has become a dynamic force in food consumption.
The Evolution
Initially dominated by canned and frozen staples, the ready meals sector expanded in the late 20th century with the rise of chilled, microwavable meals. The 2000s brought supermarket-ready frozen dinners. The pandemic accelerated growth in meal kits and RTE formats, with companies like HelloFresh and Lite n’ Easy pivoting toward ready meals dataintelo.com+9ft.com+9verifiedmarketreports.com+9. Consumer demand for health-conscious options, global cuisines, plant-based meals, and sustainable packaging has reshaped product innovation .
Market Trends
Health & Clean Label: Over 35% of consumers in 2023 prioritized meals with low sugar, salt, high nutrition, and plant-based ingredients marketgrowthreports.com.
Plant-Based Boom: Vegan-ready meals grew 20% YoY; 10% of the market in 2023 marketgrowthreports.com.
E-Commerce: Around 15% of sales are online, with rapid growth via grocery delivery and subscriptions globenewswire.com+4ft.com+4verifiedmarketreports.com+4.
International Flavors: Demand for Indian, Mediterranean, and pan-Asian cuisines is rising accio.com+5marketgrowthreports.com+5markwideresearch.com+5.
Packaging Innovation: Vacuum pouches, microwavable trays, and eco-friendly packaging gain preference marketgrowthreports.com.
Premiumization & Meal Kits: Consumers now expect restaurant-quality dishes at home, blurring lines between meal kits and ready meals en.wikipedia.org+8markwideresearch.com+8accio.com+8.
Challenges
Perceived Unhealthiness: About 60% of shoppers cite additives and processing as concerns markwideresearch.com+1couriermail.com.au+1.
Packaging Waste: Single-use plastics are under scrutiny; companies face pressure to adopt biodegradable options .
Rising Ingredient Costs: Volatility in food prices impacts producers verifiedmarketreports.com+2marketgrowthreports.com+2hdinresearch.com+2.
Cold Chain Gaps: Insufficient infrastructure in emerging markets leads to spoilage couriermail.com.au+2virtuemarketresearch.com+2fortunebusinessinsights.com+2.
Market Saturation: Competition is intense; food delivery services and ghost kitchens add to the pressure en.wikipedia.org+4hdinresearch.com+4arxiv.org+4.
Regulatory Complexity: Differing food safety and labeling standards increase compliance costs marketgrowthreports.com+3verifiedmarketreports.com+3hdinresearch.com+3.
Market Scope
Product Types
Frozen & chilled: ~45% of market virtuemarketresearch.com+2verifiedmarketreports.com+2verifiedmarketreports.com+2.
Canned shelf-stable: ~35% mintel.com+2verifiedmarketreports.com+2markwideresearch.com+2.
Dry meals: ~20% verifiedmarketreports.com+2verifiedmarketreports.com+2marketgrowthreports.com+2.
Distribution Channels
Hypermarkets/supermarkets: ~40–50% share .
Online: fastest growth—10%+ CAGR verifiedmarketreports.com.
Convenience stores: quickly rising, ~6.8% CAGR verifiedmarketreports.com.
Geographic Regions
North America: ~35% virtuemarketresearch.com.
Europe: ~30% .
Asia-Pacific: ~20%; fastest growth—9.2%–9.8% CAGR .
Latin America & MEA: ~15% combined verifiedmarketreports.com.
Key Players: Nestlé, Conagra Brands, General Mills, Kraft Heinz, McCain, Unilever, Tyson, JBS, Nomad Foods, Lite n’ Easy .
Market Size and Factors Driving Growth
Market Value:
USD 121 billion in 2023 couriermail.com.au+15verifiedmarketreports.com+15virtuemarketresearch.com+15
USD 160 billion in 2024 → USD 240 billion by 2030 (8.4% CAGR) virtuemarketresearch.com+1accio.com+1
USD 350 billion forecast by 2034 (~7% CAGR from 2025) .
Growth Drivers:
Convenience demand in fast-paced lifestyles ft.com+15marketgrowthreports.com+15fortunebusinessinsights.com+15.
Women entering workforce fueling purchase of easy meals verifiedmarketreports.com+14virtuemarketresearch.com+14verifiedmarketreports.com+14.
E‑commerce penetration enhancing accessibility dataintelo.com.
Health and sustainability prompting nutritious and eco-conscious options markwideresearch.com.
Global flavors demand for diversity en.wikipedia.org+5marketgrowthreports.com+5hdinresearch.com+5.
Packaging tech improving convenience and shelf life marketgrowthreports.com+1globenewswire.com+1.
Plant-based surge in vegetarian and vegan meals hdinresearch.com+6verifiedmarketreports.com+6markwideresearch.com+6.
Premiumization & personalization through gourmet, diet-focused meals dataintelo.com+8virtuemarketresearch.com+8markwideresearch.com+8.
Company diversification like Lite n’ Easy expanding to mainstream meals accio.com+3couriermail.com.au+3ft.com+3.
Source: https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-ready-meals-market
Conclusion
The ready meals market reflects modern life—fast, diverse, and health-conscious. With a projected market explosion from USD 121 billion to USD 240–350 billion by 2030–34, propelled by convenience, e-commerce, health, and sustainability, the industry enters a new era of innovation.
Success will hinge on delivering nutritious, clean-label, globally-inspired meals in eco-friendly packaging through robust digital and retail channels. Producers adept at matching consumer preferences with supply chain agility and technological innovation—especially in packaging and analytics—will lead the future of convenient dining.